Controversial Science Research Articles

Conversion messages and attitude change: Strong arguments, not costly signals

A conversion narrative recounts the process that led the speaker to reject one belief for a different, usually incompatible, alternative. However, researchers know little about whether, when, and, if so, how such messages affect audience attitudes about controversial science. Using a general US population-sample experiment, we assessed the attitudinal impact of three versions of a statement by Mark Lynas, an environmental activist who converted from opposing to championing genetically modified crops. Participants were exposed to (1) a one-sided pro-genetically modified message by Lynas, (2) a two-sided pro-genetically modified message in which Lynas indicates but does not detail his conversion, or (3) a two-sided pro-genetically modified message in which Lynas explains the process that prompted his conversion. We find that his conversion messages influenced attitudes by way of perceived argument strength, but not speaker credibility. This finding implies such messages induce greater elaboration, which may lead to durable attitudes that predict behavior.

Institutional shaping of research priorities: A case study on avian influenza

Since outbreaks in 2003, avian influenza has received a considerable amount of funding and become a controversial science policy issue in various respects. Like in many other global and multidisciplinary societal problems fraught with high levels of uncertainty, a variety of perspectives have emerged over how to “tackle” avian influenza and public voices have expressed concern over how research funds are being allocated. In this article, we document if and how research agendas are being informed by public policy debates. We use qualitative and quantitative approaches to examine the relations between expectations of outcomes of public science and the existing research landscape. Interviews with a cross-section of stakeholders reveal a wide range of perspectives and values associated with the nature and objectives of existing research avenues. We find that the landscape of public avian influenza research is not directly driven by expectations of societal outcomes. Instead, it is shaped by three institutional drivers: pharmaceutical industry priorities, publishing and public research funding pressures, and the mandates of science-based policy or public health organizations. These insights suggest that, in research prioritization, funding agencies should embrace a broad perspective of research governance that explicitly considers underlying institutional drivers. Deliberative approaches in public priority setting might help to make agendas more plural and diverse and thus more responsive to the contested and uncertain nature of avian influenza research.

Institutional Shaping of Research Priorities: A Case Study on Avian Influenza

Since outbreaks in 2003, avian influenza has received a considerable amount of funding and become a controversial science policy issue in various respects. Like in many so-called “grand challenges”, a variety of perspectives have emerged over how to “tackle” avian influenza and public voices have expressed concern over how research funds are being allocated. In this article we inquire into the priorities of avian influenza research. We use qualitative and quantitative data to examine the relations between societal demands for public science and the existing “research landscape”. Interviews of a cross-section of stakeholders revealed a diversity of perspectives on existing research and its desired outcomes, and a generalized difficulty to explicitly connect the two. We also observed a lack of a common understanding of priorities for conducting and applying research. Rather than well-defined research agendas, we found that most public avian influenza research is shaped by three institutional contexts: pharmaceutical industry priorities, publishing and public research funding pressures, and the mandates of international and national science-based policy or public health organizations. Our results are significant for informing not only resource allocation issues, but also a broad perspective of research governance that explicitly takes into account underlying incentive structures when defining priorities.

The potential role of actively open-minded thinking in preventing motivated reasoning about controversial science

Ideologically motivated rejection of scientific evidence can be harmful to individuals and society, especially regarding consequential issues like climate change. A growing base of evidence suggests a cognitive style known as Actively Open-Minded Thinking (AOT) may reduce ideological rejection of scientific findings. In this article, we test the association between AOT and Americans' beliefs that global warming is mostly human-caused, a position supported by scientific consensus. We hypothesized that political conservatives with high AOT would be more likely than those with low AOT to acknowledge human-caused global warming. We predicted no such effect for liberals. Contrary to expectations, there was an unmoderated relationship between AOT and human causation belief. Higher levels of AOT were associated with increased likelihood of belief in human-caused global warming, regardless of participants' political ideology, scientific knowledge, or scientific media use. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Introducing Argumentation About Climate Change Socioscientific Issues in a Disadvantaged School

Improving the ability of young people to construct arguments about controversial science topics is a desired outcome of science education. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the impact of an argumentation intervention on the socioscientific issue of climate change with Year 10 students in a disadvantaged Australian school. After participation in a professional development workshop on climate change science, socioscientific issues and argumentation, an early career teacher explicitly taught argumentation over four non-consecutive lessons as part of a 4 week (16 lesson) topic on Earth science. Thirty students completed a pre- and post-test questionnaire to determine their understanding of climate change science and their ability to construct an argument about a climate change socioscientific issue. Students’ understanding of climate change improved significantly (p < .001) with a large effect size. There was also a significant increase (p < .05) in the number of categories provided in written arguments about a climate change issue. Qualitative data, comprising classroom observation field notes, lesson transcripts, work samples, and teacher and student interviews, were analysed for the extent to which the students’ argumentation skills improved. At the end of the intervention, students became aware of the need to justify their decisions with scientific evidence. It is concluded that introducing argumentation about climate change socioscientific issues to students in a disadvantaged school can improve their argumentation skills.

Straight But Not Straight

Book Review| January 01 2018 Straight But Not Straight: The Strange History of Sexual Reorientation Therapy The Straight Line: How the Fringe Science of Ex-Gay Therapy Reoriented Sexuality, Waidzunas, Tom, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2015. 321 pp. Barry Reay Barry Reay Barry Reay is professor of history at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google GLQ (2018) 24 (1): 159–161. https://doi.org/10.1215/10642684-4254567 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Barry Reay; Straight But Not Straight: The Strange History of Sexual Reorientation Therapy. GLQ 1 January 2018; 24 (1): 159–161. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/10642684-4254567 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search Books & JournalsAll JournalsGLQ Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright © 2018 Duke University Press2018 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Individuals with greater science literacy and education have more polarized beliefs on controversial science topics

Although Americans generally hold science in high regard and respect its findings, for some contested issues, such as the existence of anthropogenic climate change, public opinion is polarized along religious and political lines. We ask whether individuals with more general education and greater science knowledge, measured in terms of science education and science literacy, display more (or less) polarized beliefs on several such issues. We report secondary analyses of a nationally representative dataset (the General Social Survey), examining the predictors of beliefs regarding six potentially controversial issues. We find that beliefs are correlated with both political and religious identity for stem cell research, the Big Bang, and human evolution, and with political identity alone on climate change. Individuals with greater education, science education, and science literacy display more polarized beliefs on these issues. We find little evidence of political or religious polarization regarding nanotechnology and genetically modified foods. On all six topics, people who trust the scientific enterprise more are also more likely to accept its findings. We discuss the causal mechanisms that might underlie the correlation between education and identity-based polarization.

The Straight Line: How the Fringe Science of Ex-Gay Therapy Reoriented Sexuality. By Tom Waidzunas. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2015. Pp. 336. $97.50 (cloth); $27.00 (paper).

<i>The Straight Line: How the Fringe Science of Ex-Gay Therapy Reoriented Sexuality</i>. By Tom Waidzunas. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2015. Pp. 336. $97.50 (cloth); $27.00 (paper).

The Straight Line: How the Fringe Science of Ex-Gay Therapy Reoriented Sexuality

The Straight Line: How the Fringe Science of Ex-Gay Therapy Reoriented Sexuality

Does Controversial Science Call For Public Participation? The Case Of Gmo Skepticism

Many instances of new and emerging science and technology are controversial. Although a number of people, including scientific experts, welcome these developments, a considerable skepticism exists among members of the public. The use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is a case in point. In science policy and in science communication, it is widely assumed that such controversial science and technology require public participation in the policy-making process. We examine this view, which we call the Public Participation Paradigm, using the case of GMOs as an example. We suggest that a prominent reason behind the call for public participation is the belief that such participation is required for democratic legitimacy. We then show that the most prominent accounts of democratic legitimacy do not, in fact, entail that public participation is required in cases of controversial science in general, or in the case of GMOs in particular.

Charms and the Divining Rod: Tradition and Innovation in Magic and Pseudo-Science, 15th to 21st Centuries

Traditional culture is one of the key fThe rise of treasure hunting as a typical element of popular magic in the 15th century coincided with the beginnings of dowsing. Treasure hunters did not rely on the divining rod exclusively, they also used a variety of charms addressing the spirit world. In contrast to that, miners who used the divining rod treated it more like a technical instrument in a modern sense. With the success of mining as a motor of technical and economical innovation, the divining rod enjoyed a breath-taking career. In the 18th century, it had become the divinatory object par excellence that could be used to find virtually anything. The 19th century witnessed the breakdown of the traditional magico-religious treasure hunt. Instead of trying to talk to the spirit world in order to find treasures, treasure hunters became interested in historical narratives that provided clues which helped to discover hidden or lost objects. Even though dowsing was eliminated from professional mining, it managed to survive. The very fact that dowsing was largely non-communicative – it was even claimed that the ability to dowse depended entirely on the individual, inner and non-transferable qualities of the dowser – seemed to be the key to its continuing success in the area of fringe science and fringe medicine. Only in recent years, the new interest in spirituality combined dowsing and the use of incantations again.

Frankenfish or Fish to Feed the World? Scientism and Biotechnology Regulatory Policy

Scientism is an attempt to apply the methods and approach of the natural sciences to matters of human social and political concern. Scientism‐based discourse has been used to reframe the public debate about controversial science and technology into a risk assessment carried out by experts. The biotechnology industry has used a scientism‐based discourse to avoid regulation and labeling, claiming that the scientific makeup of their products is all that matters for governing regulatory policy, not their social, economic, or environmental impact. In this case study I examine the discourse used in support of and opposition to AquaAdvantage salmon, the first genetically engineered animal approved for human consumption. This case inspired an opposition coalition of consumer and environmental groups that led the FDA to organize a public meeting about its review of the fish. The analysis finds support for previous studies showing that regulatory debates over biotechnology in the United States are dominated by scientism, and that scientism generates public skepticism rather than confidence. In previous cases citizen groups were unable to challenge the authority of scientism‐based regulatory policy, but in this case the agency's decision not to require labeling was overruled by a congressional labeling mandate driven by citizen mobilization.

The changing uses of accuracy in science communication

Tracing its historical trajectories, this article explores the preoccupation with accuracy in science communication research and explores the resurgence in the present century of concerns about accuracy, balance and impartiality in public communication of science. It is argued that many of the original insights from news and journalism research are still relevant and important if re-formulated in constructionist terms about voice, access and claims-making, and asking, in whose interest? Key to this is also the recognition of a radically changing - technologically, economically and professionally - media and communications environment, with implications for science journalism and a very different dynamic regarding the range and type of actors involved in discursively constructing opinions and information about controversial science and expertise. The article concludes with proposals for future emphases and directions in research broadly concerned with accuracy in science communication.

Moratoria for Global Governance and Contested Technology: The Case of Climate Engineering

Calls for moratoria are a frequent response to controversial issues in international diplomacy and control of technology, and are now prominent in debates over governance challenges posed by climate engineering (CE) – intentional modification of the global climate to reduce changes caused by human emissions of greenhouse gases. Based on twelve historical cases of moratoria in other areas of diplomatic conflict or controversial science and technology, we present a novel analytic framework to examine purposes, design characteristics, and conditions for effectiveness of moratoria, based on a taxonomy of three ideal moratorium types: risk-management moratoria, principled-conflict moratoria, and bargaining moratoria. We use this framework to examine potential contributions and design conditions for a moratorium on CE. A moratorium for CE could seek primarily to advance risk-management aims or bargaining aims, with distinct implications for its timing, scope, associated actors, and conditions for termination. Beyond the current, high-stakes case of CE, the proposed analytic framework has broader implications for critical examination of moratorium proposals, current and future, in other areas of controversial research, technology, and governance challenges.

Anthropic arguments outside of cosmology and string theory

Anthropic reasoning has lately been strongly associated with the string theory landscape and some theories of particle cosmology, such as cosmological inflation. The association is not, contrary to multiple statements by physicists and philosophers alike, necessary. On the contrary, there are clear reasons and instances in which the anthropic reasoning is useful in a diverse range of fields such as planetary sciences, geophysics, future studies, risk analysis, origin of life studies, evolutionary theory, astrobiology and SETI studies, ecology, or even strategic studies and global policy. The association of anthropic reasoning with string theory and particle cosmology has not only become the standard wisdom, but has been often construed in a negative way, in order to demonstrate or insinuate that such reasoning is too abstract or even belongs to 'fringe science', remote from run-of-the-mill research practices in any other more 'mundane' and less theoretical scientific discipline. The purpose of this paper is to (i) analyse some of the counter-examples to the standard wisdom, (ii) suggest that the anthropic reasoning is more flexible, more general, and less fashion-driven than the detractors state. In addition, we consider some historical and/or extrascientific motivation for this persistent prejudice.

Deciphering Primary and Popular Literature: An Interactive Approach for Promoting Students' Development of Scientific, Digital, and Information Literacy in Post-Secondary Contexts.

In an era of unprecedented scientific and technological advancement, it is imperative that individuals possess the ability to interpret and make meaning of current scientific phenomena, including those of both national and global importance. Despite this necessity, research suggests that less than 30% of Americans are able to understand the science section of the New York Times or other popular media resources. In this paper, we present an interactive approach utilizing primary and popular literature that is designed to: a) enhance students’ understanding of science content; b) promote students’ ability to make use of evidence to support or reject claims regarding controversial science topics; and c) improve students’ oral and written communication skills. Applications for use in post-secondary classrooms are discussed.

Attitudinal gaps: How experts and lay audiences form policy attitudes toward controversial science

Input from scientific experts and lay audiences plays an important role in the realization of scientific advances and scientific policymaking. This study examines factors influencing expert and public attitudes toward the regulation of academic and commercial nanotechnology. Compared to scientific experts, lay publics are more likely to support the regulation of academic nanotechnology, with value predispositions playing a critical role in impacting such opinions. Among lay audiences, liberals and respondents reporting higher levels of religiosity were more likely to support regulation of both academic and commercial nanotechnology research, while those who paid greater attention to the media were more supportive of regulations for commercial research. Across the two groups, perceptions of risks relative to benefits consistently predicted attitudes toward regulation. Importantly, scientists rely less upon their value predispositions when forming regulatory attitudes, instead basing such attitudes on perceptions of regulatory impacts on scientific progress. The regulatory implications of these findings are discussed.

To burn or to save? The opposing functions of reading scripture on environmental intentions

In a controversial Science article published in 1967, Lynn White blamed Judeo-Christian scriptures for the planet’s ecological crisis. White claimed that scriptural dogmas of human domination have too easily justified environmental exploitation. White’s critics responded that the Bible commends ecological stewardship, which potentially restrains otherwise ruinous human tendencies to exploit. Previous studies empirically assessing these apparently conflicting claims show mixed results. We propose that the effects of religious fundamentalism and attention to scripture must be distinguished. A key novelty of our paper is the use of reported frequency of scriptural reading to measure the salience of scripture in an individual’s life. White’s hypothesis predicts that reading scripture will be associated with (1) increased fundamentalism, and (2) lower pro-environmental intentions. In contrast, the counterarguments of White’s critics predict that (3) higher frequency of scripture reading will be associated with higher pro-environmental intentions. We tested these predictions with a Bayesian Structural Equation Model that estimated the direct and indirect (mediated) effects of scripture reading on pro-environmental intentions. Our data were obtained from a cross-sectional sample of self-identified Christian participants (N = 1012) in the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study. Supporting White, we found clear evidence for a positive link between frequency of scripture reading and religious fundamentalism, and between religious fundamentalism and lower pro-environmental intentions. However, in line with White’s critics, we also found evidence for a positive direct effect of reading scripture on pro-environmental intentions. Although the positive (direct) and negative (indirect) effects of scripture reading were similar in magnitude, the negative effect, which is mediated by religious fundamentalism, appears to be slightly more probable. Collectively, our findings indicate that attention to scripture might be associated with moral ambivalence about pro-environmental intentions.

Summer for the Scientists? The Scopes Trial and the Pedagogy of Journalism

A main goal of John T. Scopes’ supporters during his 1925 trial for teaching evolution in Tennessee was to educate the public on evolution science through newspapers. This paper argues that, though journalists, lawyers, and scholars expected newspaper coverage to make Americans smarter about evolution, little effort was devoted to that aim. Rather, a preference for conflict and an emerging professional objectivity resulted in more confusion than clarity, just as news coverage of evolution and other controversial science issues does today.

Workplace settings and wellbeing: Greenspace use and views contribute to employee wellbeing at peri-urban business sites

Low density business developments are a near ubiquitous feature of peri-urban landscapes in the UK and in other developed countries, however little is known about how workers relate to open space in this particular type of working environment. Person–environment relationships in five urban fringe science parks in central Scotland were investigated through a survey of employees (N=366). Specifically, the study sought to explore the impact of viewing and using greenspace at these knowledge-sector workplaces on employee wellbeing. The results of a series of multiple regression analyses indicated that both use of the open space and views of some vegetation types, namely trees, lawn and shrubs or flowering plants, were positively and independently associated with self-reported wellbeing levels. This research provides new insight into the extent to which workplace greenspace contributes to employee wellbeing, whilst controlling for exposure to greenspace outside of the workplace context. Also, by investigating relationships between wellbeing and the particular physical features seen in views, the research provides evidence on how workplaces might be designed to incorporate restorative window views. These findings have relevance both for the planning and design of peri-urban business sites and for the design of interventions to promote employee wellbeing.